If you grew up in the 90’s and loved NBA basketball, you have probably heard of Ronald “Ron” Harper. The 6’6’’ high flying guard out of Miami University that gained prominence as a member of the Chicago Bulls three-peat championship teams (1996’-1998’) and the Los Angeles Lakers that won back-to-back crowns in 2000 and 2001.

Three memories stand out when I think about Ron Harper: The first being the suffocating defense that he, Michael Jordan, and Scottie Pippen played against the smaller guards of the Utah Jazz in the 1998 NBA Finals. For their defensive efforts, then Bulls assistant coach Johnny Bach dubbed them, “The Dobermans[i].” Second, is Ron Harper—wearing one many NBA championship rings—extending his “ring hand” towards a number of teammates that eagerly surrounded him and seemingly wanted to touch it for good luck. Lastly, is my own Ron Harper story wherein he let me take a look and touch his 2001 NBA Championship ring, the same one that he won with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Last Saturday afternoon, I had an opportunity to sit down with the 5-time NBA champion and talk about his career, all-time favorite players, and expectations of the Global Games Philippines 2013:

Tedi Villasor (TGV): Hi Ron, I’m Dr. Tedi Villasor from NBA.com/Philippines. I just have a couple of questions for you. Basketball is very big in the Philippines and we have a lot of aspiring high school, collegiate, and professional basketball players. One question that I usually ask is: What qualities do you feel a basketball player should have in order to be successful?

Ron Harper (RH): “First of all, basketball is a global game these days. You’ve got to be good by having all of the basketball skills: You’ve got to be able to shoot, you’ve got to be able to dribble, you’ve got to find a good role to fit into a basketball team. It makes no difference if you’re tall, you’re short, you’re fast, or slow. If you’ve got some kind of basketball skill that fits a basketball team…that is what it takes these days.”